Karma

Karma was the name of the current gang circulating the grapevine. Word had it they killed criminals with such crude, barbaric ways. Yet, their crudeness was masked with an elaborate degree of efficiency. Police couldn’t find them, yet still tens of corrupt victims fell each month. The idea was so delirious and idealistic, yet had an awe-inspiring feeling of justice intertwined into it. Little did the law enforcers know that the gang consisted of only five girls- each going by an equally idealistic alias. They went by the names of Virtue, Cherish, Wisdom, Serenity and Silence. Meanwhile, another alias-user by the name of Jax is right on their tails. Despite being lazy enough to lack a basic living will, he is a mastermind detective. With the help of his friend Sam, He’s never had a case he left without the perpetrator behind bars.

However, this is not the tale being told here. This particular story is about how these events took place. Meet Nicole, a young girl whose life was changed forever with the murdering of her classmates. Meet Jaqueline, whose life was decided in the split second she let the murderer get away. Meet Jayden, Joelee, Allie, Piper, Miles, Dylan, Sam and Kylee who all how different stories to tell of how this scenario took place to be and discover just how small this world really is in the eyes of these ten different individuals.View table of contents...

Chapters:

Soon after I had abandoned my life of guaranteed happiness and
safety, I met the girl I've come to know as Virtue. By then, the
police had labelled my name as the murderer of 20 innocent
kindergarten-aged children and one ill-suspecting, middle-aged
teacher. I was hated by decent society. Search parties covered
every square mile in the city's perimeter, all looking for one
sadistic, possibly mad, six year old girl. I hid wherever I
possibly could, in warehouses, sheds, and the occasional
foreclosed house. I was a lucky one, always sensing the police's
presence and sneaking away just in time for the police to ransack
my temporary living quarters. It was Virtue's presence that I did
not sense, however. She crawled into the shed that I had been
striving in for two days or so, unnoticed until she spoke a word
behind me.

"Nicole Youngblood," She said, unafraid even in her seven-year
old state, "Fancy seeing you here." I spun around to see the
little girl, hair as black as a raven's feather, sweeping
eyelashes over her emerald green eyes. I studied her before
speaking my first words.

"Are you going to turn me in?" I muttered, trying to act
confident in my actions and keep my shaking to a minimum.

"Maybe," She replied with a glint in her cat-like eyes, "Not
unless you don't follow my every command." I cringed. What kind
of sick kid was she to be blackmailing me? I would have her head
on a platter if I wished. However, I was surrounded by her with
no weapon to speak of, much less a plan.

"What are your commands?" I decided to play along. She was just
another naïve kid, right? What harm could she do?

"Follow me," She said, thrusting her black jacket into my arms. I
quickly put it on and followed her through the small crevice the
girl climbed into to encounter the fateful meeting in the first
place.

We stopped walking when we were in front of a large house, almost
mansion-like, yet more modern looking. As i peered through the
golden gate that closed it off from the rest of the world, I
noticed it was painted a deep mauve and had a roof of forest
green. The lawn was decorated with beautifully decorated gardens
and white peacocks strutting proudly around the perfectly cared
for grass. The lot was also specked with smaller, but equally
impressive matching sub-houses and stretched for as far as my
eyes could see. The aura wreaked of wealth. Of course, even my
juvenile mind was in awe.

"Where are we?" I asked, still marveling at the house.

"My place," She casually replied, opening the gate just as
casually. I followed her through the gate and into the main
house. Of course, the inside was as decorated as the outside, if
not more.

"Mother," The girl addressed as she turned a corner into a room.

"Yes, darling?" A sophisticated voice responded. As I turned the
same corner, I found that it belonged to a woman in her
late-thirties. Her face was sharp and with deep blue eye shadow,
pink blush and red lipstick, her makeup taste did not match her
taste of interior design.

"I found her," The girl who's name I did not yet know stated in
an orderly fashion to her mother, gesturing to me. Her mother let
out a gasp of surprised delight as she set eyes upon me for the
first time.

"Welcome, Nicole," She cheerfully smiled at me after that. Why
was this woman accepting a wanted child murderer into her home?
The whole scene confused me to a point of being speechless. I
merely shuffled my feet as a response, avoiding eye contact.

"As a hit man," She carried on, taking into account my speechless
state, "Of course, I'll pay off any living expenses. Virtue, be a
dear and show our new guest where she'll be staying?" She turned
back to her daughter. The girl called Virtue nodded, took my hand
and dashed out of the room and onto the yard.

"What's going on?" I asked briskly, making up for my lack of
arrogance.

"My family hires people to do their dirty work," The small girl
responded, not bothering to turn around, "I guess we're some
big-shot in the underground criminal world." I nodded. Her story
somewhat made sense.

"Oh yeah, and to keep loyalty, we offer roofs over our employee's
heads," She added, sure I, someone of her own age, would keep a
secret. She let go of my hand when we reached a small
-nevertheless extravagant- shack on the edge of the lot, nearly a
half-mile from the main house. "This is where you'll be staying,"
Virtue gestured to it with a grin.

~

Nine years later, I still lived in that shack. Of course, it was
overgrown with weeds and smelled of rust by then, as I let no
one, not even the gardener, enter my living quarters. Not that
any of the newbie's would have the guts to enter anyway. Every
day, they all witnessed me dragging myself out at dawn and back
in at dusk, drenched in the foul-smelling blood of my victims,
mostly petty criminals or enemies of Virtue's mother. I had been
deemed an outcast by the jealous occupants of the other small
shacks on that sinful lot, but that didn't matter with me. I was
the first person the head of the house turned to when she needed
something done. I was a favorite, maybe even favorited above the
daughter of the house herself. I was showered in money and food,
lest yet another list of poor souls soon to be slaughtered came
my way. Perhaps that's the roots of my life's fateful tragedy. I
didn't question my actions, as I had been jaded as I was many
years before. I just did my work as it was a normal office job,
being careful enough to cover up all evidence. Sneaky enough to
slip away from any situation. Exact enough to relieve a person of
their life in one swish of my dagger.

Until one night, when my body grew more exhausted than usual. My
last kill for the night was more messy than usual. He actually
dared to let out a few long screams before I could shut him up by
slashing his throat. Cleaning up the evidence was equally messy,
I had left fingerprints everywhere. There was too much blood to
speak of. And the time of death would be relevant with any 911
call from an overhearing neighbor. Too little time. In a moments
notice, the dead's now vacant house was surrounded by local
police cars. The first of the police knocked on the door. I
didn't answer. I planned to lure him into the house, so I flicked
a switch in the front room, triggering the lights. There's no
question someone's home, they must've been thinking. Sure enough,
the police turned the knob and opened the door ever so slowly.

"Hello?" He yelled into the house. By then, I was hiding on the
wall behind the door, locating every weapon on him. A taser on
his left side attached to the belt of his uniform. A standard
hand gun two slots away from it. Also, a handheld radio beside
the taser. I made a mental note to rid him of that as well.
Possibly his whole belt. He stepped into the room, making sure
not to close the door behind him.

"I know someone's here, if you don't step out, there'll be
charges," He announced, wiping his forehead in early frustration.
He took another step into the room to take a look around. This
was my chance. I quietly leapt from my hiding place and closed
the door, locking it without the policeman's notice. That's when
he turned around to face me. He was quite young, maybe in his
early twenties. His face looked prickly with the unshaven start
of a beard and his eyes drooped childishly at the sides. His
short hair looked auburn and sported a police cap.

Without hesitation, I leapt at him, dagger ready. He let out no
cry, but simply allowed my dagger to slip into his right side
while grabbing for his radio. An unclean spot, if you ask me, but
perfect for distraction. Unfortunately for him, his belt was
already across the room, as I had thrown it there the second
after I had unsecured it from his waist. He looked up at me, eyes
showing pain.

"Who are you?" He asked, clinging to his wound.

"Just some murderer," I smiled sadistically down at him, proud of
my quick wit. I raised my dagger again, aiming the point for his
neck.

"If you kill me, there'll just be more evidence. More police will
show up if I don't return," He said quickly. Damn, I had to admit
he was right. I couldn't kill him knowing that. I simply stood
back up and fled the scene.